She Devil': Belle Watling
by Jorja05
Summary: A Continuation of where The legend that was Maragaret Mitchell left off.
1. Tara

"_Tomorrow is another day."_

Scarlett dragged herself from the steps of her mansion, that she had thought she needed, and realized that this was not a home. It was a charade, a farce, that Scarlett had needed, had thought that she needed in order to become prestigious. But all she had done was push away her southern friends and attracted the Yankee's who loved to pry on those who had money, who needed friendship in the city where they were hated just as much as Scarlett did. She didn't need the house, she didn't need the money, the dresses, the drink, the food- she needed Rhett and Bonnie.

She didn't want Ella. She annoyed her but then she felt guilty at the thought. But she had to be honest, she had been lying all her life and that had lead her to trouble and desolation. Ella was like Frank; submissive and dull whilst Bonnie had been so like Gerald- bright, enthusiastic and courageous. Although it had been that courage that had lead them both to their deaths. She had already vowed never to let any child of her on a horse, she may not love Ella but she was still her daughter, still her flesh and blood, still an O'Hara, and her only daughter now.

Slowly, she climbed the stairs to the nursery, where Rhett had locked himself in with Bonnie, when he would not let her see her own baby. The room was dark, the bed still creased from the light body of her daughter, the toys still scattered across the floor from when Bonnie and Beau had played in there that morning.

If only she hadn't lost the baby, then Rhett would still be here. They may have lost Bonnie but they would have a new baby, a baby to mould into Bonnie's place. But Scarlett had lost her temper and thrown herself on him. What had she expected to happen? Of course she would have fallen down the stairs! But he had hurt her and all she had felt was rage, anger that he could twist her like that, make her feel like that and when she had made an attempt to claw at his face it had felt good. Felt like a release.

Scarlett longed for the baby. She hated babies, she hated pregnancy and she hated motherhood but Rhett had adored being a father. Enjoyed every moment of it and maybe, just maybe, if she hadn't have fallen, Rhett would be here now, comforting her after Melanie's death.

Melanie! Oh Melanie! How could she go on without Melanie? Melanie, who had been so much like Ellen, was gone. She had made up for Ellen, tried to be calm and loving to Scarlett, just like Ellen did. Now Scarlett had nobody, except faithful Aunt Pitty, who Scarlett could only tolerate and Ashley. Ashley. Damn Ashley! He had promised her the world when she had been a girl, he had made her believed that he had loved her all of these years and he never really felt anything for her! He was the reason she was in this mess; all the false hope he had given her. Damn Ashley. Damn the Wilkes'.

She didn't even have Mammy to rest her head in her lap. Mammy would have comforted her, told her that everything would be okay. She would have made Scarlett feel strong again, because Mammy was like Tara and Scarlett needed Tara. She needed to get to Tara; to be back on the red earth that made her heart beat faster. That made her blood warm her body that made her breathe. Tara was her home, not this show house that she had spent so much time and money into, Tara, Tara where Gerald had grown from an Irish Immigrant to a Georgian Plantation owner, Tara who had saved them during the war, Tara, who would never fail her. She had to go home, now.

She rushed to her room, ran through the hundreds of dresses that she owned; the beautiful red gown that had gotten her through her shame at Ashley's birthday, the one that Rhett had made up when she was carrying Bonnie, it hugged her stomach and hit the bump with frills and gathering of cloth so she had been able to socialize until right at the very end of her pregnancy- why Rhett had always understood what had been important to her. Rhett had known her from the very beginning, had been able to see her through her demure mask, why, he was the only one who had loved her for who she really was. Ellen had loved her as a daughter, an obeying daughter, Melanie had loved her as a sweet sister, who had looked after her during the siege, she thought, out of love, when really it had been out of love for Ashley and Ashley had never really loved her at all. Rhett was the only one that saw and the only one that accepted and now he was gone, how would she go on?

The train to Tara was long and tiring. It juddered and shook on the rusting tracks, gathering dirt up to the window that had been open because of the airless carriage. Scarlet spent her journey plotting and planning. Planning to get Rhett back.

She thought that she could feign pregnancy, until she realized that they had been in separate rooms since Bonnie had been born. She thought maybe he would come back if she went to Charleston, but then Mrs. Butler wasn't very keen on her and that might be awkward. Finally, she thought maybe she could just run to him and fall at his feet, but she had practically done that before and he hadn't believed her. She realized that unless Rhett came back on his own accord, Scarlett would never be able to persuade him and she would be alone always.

Will met her at Jonesboro, on an old cart filled with bags of food and cloth, which he had probably traded the cotton for, with an old brown horse pulling at the reins. He grinned at her and took her bags, chucking them less than delicately on the back of the wagon. "Afternoon, Miss Scarlett, I's sorry to her hear about Miss Melanie. She was a good lady."

"Will, if you say another thing I know I shall cry. I just can't- how is Suellen, Will?" She asked merrily. She was too tired to think about Melanie, because every time she did her heart swelled until she thought that it would burst.

" She's fine, just fine, Scarlett. She had a baby you know? Oh… how stupid, I spose I shouldn't have mentioned it, what with all that you-"

" A baby, Will? A fine one?" She said too enthusiastically. She didn't really like babies, hardly even her own, but it was better to talk about a baby born than to talk about Melanie.

" Yes, although, he could be 'scribed as a bit scrawny."

"A boy?" Rhett had always hated boys.

" Yes'm. He is like a runt in a litter, he mews and coo's but the ol' Doc say that he is strong enough. We called him Gerald, after your Pa. I liked your Pa and was mighty sorry that he went." Scarlett wanted to laugh. Suellen was just trying to reason with the Angels and Ellen by naming her son Gerald, seeing as she had been the reason for his death. Suellen was a murderess in the eyes of half the county.

She didn't reply because as they turned around the bend Tara came into the view. The beautiful white building that stood proudly in the middle of the blood red mud that gave Scarlett life. The white wash walls and the crude columns that Gerald had constructed made her heart beat faster.

"I'm home, Will, I'm home."


	2. Belle

" So I have left her, and don't plan to see her again. Although I may just visit her every now and then, you know me, I would like to see her suffer," he said but Belle Watling, who lay stretched out on her couch under the window, knew that he meant none of it. He wanted her to suffer, so did she, but he was not that cruel.

"Rhett, I'll say it before and I'll say it again, your hooked. You can say that you detest her, you can say that you would gladly wring her neck but none of it the truth. You're smitten and probably always will be. She was Bonnie's mother and so like Bonnie. Your need for Bonnie will make you go back there-"

"No! Belle, if I go back there then I am taking myself to my own death. She hasn't succeeded in sucking the life out of me but I tell you, many times she has come close. No I will not be like Charles or Frank or Her Ashley."

Belle looked away from him and her heart cried: ' If only he meant it!' She wished that he did. She wished that he would stop loving the cold Miss O'Hara and warm to Belle. She could love him that way that he had wanted Scarlett to love him and she would do it gladly and not that a sad old lank man like Ashley Wilkes get in the way.

"Will you really not see her, Rhett?"

He sighed. "I will have to endure her at Mrs Wilkes' funeral. That I must go to. I couldn't not. She was an amazing lady and I must go. No doubt Scarlett will be there, although she wouldn't mean any of the tears that will fall from those cat-like eyes. Scarlet was never sincere about anything, not even the ongoing love she had with Ashley Wilkes. That wasn't real. Just like her love for me now isn't real. But yes, Belle, I will have to see her again."

Belle knew it. he hadn't meant anything he had raged about earlier. He could be just as insincere as Scarlett. But he was good and kind and Miss O'Hara should have him.

Rhett Butler had helped Belle in more ways that God had ever helped his people. If it hadn't have been for Rhett, Belle was sure that she would be dead by now. If Rhett hadn't taken her from Charleston, away from her 'handy' father, before he could find out about her plight then she would surely be dead. If Rhett hadn't paid for her son's education and lodgings and food, then surely he would be dead. Rhett was her savoir. Not the God that her father so heartily believed in. He could keep his God; Belle had Rhett.

She had wanted, needed Rhett to fall in love with her over the years. But he had never loved a woman. Until he met Scarlett and then, she was all he could think about. Belle knew Rhett better then anybody else, afterall they had grown up together but were from completely different worlds.

Rhett, even as a boy, had been brave and sarcastic. When he ran away from home and was dragged back my Mr Butler, the beating he got from him would not deter him from doing the same thing next time. Rhett had met Belle on one of his explorations, when they had been children, and from then on Rhett had supported her. When Robert Turner, a wealthy plantation owner, had told her that he loved her and then dumped her on the side of the road, with child, Rhett had taken her to New Orleans, where his friends had accepted her and she was able to have her baby and keep her dignity, something that had she would remain in Charleston, she would no longer have.

"Rhett, you are like Frank and Charles. You are completely mesmorised by the woman."

"Oh Belle, I wish I wasn't. I wish that I could just walk away from my life here-"

"But, Rhett, No! If you did that then, I, you would leave me. My only friend in all the world. You cant leave Atlanta. Its your home, you got that big fancy house and Scarlett has gone to Tara. You could live there."

He shook his head and finished his brandy. "No. That house is vulgar. And much too big for just one person. I would see Bonnie all of the time there as well… No. I cannot live there alone."

"I would come with you, Rhett," Belle said quietly.

Smiling, he pinched her cheek as he so often did. "Oh, Belle. You are too kind. But neither of us belong there. Besides, you wouldn't be able to tolerate living with me." He laughed.

'I could. Its what I live for,' she thought but she simply kissed his cheek quickly goodbye and watched him put his hat on and leave her again. He always left her for that woman.


	3. Back to Atlanta

Suellen watched from the hallway as her sister sat at their fathers desk in the study, with Will leaning over her as they read through the large black book that Will recorded all numbers to do with Tara. Suellen had never understood it, never really cared about it but it bothered her now, to watch her sister who took everything from her, take an interest in her husbands pride and joy. They were both dressed in black, Scarlett had a huge black bonnet on her head, with plumes of black feathers flowing from the side, her face half covered by a dainty net. Even in black she looked nice, whilst Suellen stood in a plain black dress with a crooked hem and a faded hat that only stayed on because her mousey hair was twisted underneath it and was holding it up.

She hated Scarlett. She hated Scarlett being in her house but she had no choice but to let her stay; Will set such a store by the cruel creature, "Come now, Sue, if it weren't for Miss Scarlett then we would have nowhere to live," and she was forced to shut her mouth. Will, who could be so calm and gentle, became sharp and harsh when it came to Scarlett. Like Melanie, he was always the first to defend her. There was no love there, she knew that, because Will could be so sweet and tender when he told how much he cared. But there was something there, something that Suellen couldn't put her finger on and it bothered her.

"Are you coming, Will?" She snapped. "We can't be late, if we miss the train we wont make it to Atlanta and I have two trunks to take."

"Are you staying in Atlanta, Sue?" Scarlett asked too sweetly. She didn't want her to stay, because she had wanted to come back here after they buried Melanie, and she hadn't wanted to go back her house there to put them up.

"Yes. India has moved in with Ashley and Miss Pitty asked if we would like to visit her and I said that we would be glad to. She is obviously excited to see Little Gerald and I am quite eager to show him off."

Scarlett smiled sickly at her sister. Never before had she seen such an ugly baby, it had a screwed up face with large ears. Gerald wasn't a fitting name for the baby, for he showed no resemblance in any way. She turned back to Will and closed the book, sighing happily. "Oh, Will, I'm so glad to see that Tara is finally as close to the old days as she can be. It is like a weight lifted off of my shoulders. But I do wish that you would help me run it, I am so bored since I sold the mills, Rhett said that it would good for me but I get-"

Will shook his head. " No, Scarlett. You has poor health and I can't let you take this weight on your-"

Scarlett was about to protest. Her mouth was open ready to complain when: " Whats dis nonsense of Miz Scarlett comin 'ere to run Tara? She too ill to be runnin' Tara, I'm telling ya, I ain't done-"

"Mammy, I only said that I wanted to help. And anyway, I don't see what it has to do with you anway," then she added more sweetly, " Are you coming to Atlanta, Mammy?"

"Ah am. I love Miss Melly like I love's Miss Ellen's girls and I's going to say bye to her. Den I is coming back 'ere to Tara. Straight back to Tara."

The four them together, traveled to Atlanta, somewhere that Scarlett had been so eager to run from. She was dreading the funeral and sat chewing her lip on the train, ignoring the grumbles of Mammy and Will's jokes. She watched as they flew through Georgia, wishing that she didn't have to do what she was going to have to do. Ashley would be there, pale and weak, being held up by icey India. To watch his weakness would only enrage Scarlett, she knew it, to see him as he always had been would make her want to slap him and say, " Get a hold of yourself! You have a son and by god, he shouldn't grow up to be like you, always dreams and never reality!" She remembered that she once called Melanie a 'pale ninny,' but now she realized that she had been stronger than Ashley, stronger than Scarlett even. Oh how could she say good bye to such a dear friend?

The train pulled into the station, later than scheduled, which meant they had to rush to get a carriage to the Cemetery. Mammy waddled on behind them as Will told the man to hurry, he wouldn't be made a show of by being late.

The Cemetery stood bleak and grey on a slanted hill on the outskirts of the city. A crowd clad in black huddle around by the gate, some sobbing, some, even the men, holding their face tightly in order to not let the tears fall. They all shivered, although it wasn't cold and they greeted Scarlett coldly as she stepped from the carriage. 'Oh yes,' Scarlett thought, ' I have no protector now. All these cats hate me. Oh well I don't care. I just want Rhett to be here,' she scanned the crowd but saw no tall, handsome dark haired men standing in a shining suit, obediently handing out cigars. But Ashley was there, stood with Beau in front of him, looking dozily at the ground, his blonde hair turned grey suddenly, his shoulder stooped and his skin shallow. Just looking at him suddenly irritated her but as Suellen and Mammy went over to greet him, she knew that he must follow.

"Scarlett, dear, thank you for coming," he said but he didn't look at her.

" I'm sorry, Ashley," she whispered but she didn't mean it. She felt more sorry for herself. She had lost a friend and a husband. He had treated Melanie horribly, telling another woman that he loved her, when really he loved his wife. He had treated her-

"Scarlett, they are going up to the grass now, come on," Suellen said and she left Scarlett alone as she went with the ground up to the bank where Melanie Wilkes would be buried.

Mammy caught hold of Scarlett's arm and lead her softly up to the bank. Mammy could be so healing, so comforting. Scarlet needed her, and she was glad that she had decided to come to Atlanta.

As the ceremony began, Scarlett's eyes darted towards the gate as it squeaked on its hinges and her heart leapt as Rhett came towards her only- 'He has come with the Watling Creature! How dare he bring a woman like that to Melly's funeral!' she could hardly believe it. Behind him, she slowly cantered up the hill, dressed in a neat black silk dress, fringed with white lace. She had little rouge on and her hair wasn't shining as usual. How could he embarrass her like this? How could he bring her and not his wife to the funeral of Melanie Wilkes?

When the service ended, and Scarlett had felt her heart break all over again as they buried her dear friend, she rushed over to Rhett and caught his arm. "Rhett," she said breathlessly. "you came!"

"Yes, my pet I came. But only to say good bye to Mrs Wilkes. I always saw her for the good person that she was-"

" Oh I did to, Rhett!"

" Really it didn't always seem clear," he mocked.

" Rhett, don't mock me. I mean it. I wish that this were anybody's funeral but hers. Including mine. But it was beautiful Rhett, even though that Belle Watling came, heavens know why!"

Rhett raced his eyebrows. " I brought her actually. When she told me how fond she was of Miss Melly and how kind she had been to Belle, I told her she should accompany me." His eyes lit up as he watched her face twist with jealousy.

"You brought her here?" She spluttered. "You? You brought her here? Why couldn't you bring your wife? You brought that trollop to the funeral of such a great lady-"

"Jealous, my love? I didn't think you could ever be jealous, such a quaint and dainty creature," he laughed. "Belle is a great lady. Maybe not as great as Mrs Wilkes but much greater than any woman here, including you Mrs Butler," he smirked.

She backed away from him in utter horror. She was being compared to Belle Watling? " You know that's a lie! I am a great lady! As for you, you deserve the company of that, that woman! Your are just as low as eachother, dirty, cunning scoundrels-"

"And I thought that you loved me, Scarlett," she couldn't reply because he walked away with Belle, and she could here his chuckle linger in the air until long after he was gone.


	4. Heartache

"Will you come and stay with me, Scarlett?" Aunt Pitty was grasping onto her arm, blotching her eyes with a handkerchief. The rain had begun to fall as they covered Melanie's grave, but Scarlett didn't care. She stood watching Rhett walk away with That Woman and once they disappeared around a corner she continued to look at the desolate street and will him to come rushing back and tell her that he had been wrong and cruel, and would she take him back?

"I thought that Suellen was staying with you Auntie, wouldn't you like that? You would be able to see the baby," Scarlett answered sweetly, but her eyes would not move from the street.

"Yes," Pitty answered quietly. "But she wont stay long will she? Mr. Benteen will want to go back to Clayton and then I will be alone again. Oh, Scarlett, I cant be alone, I do hate being alone," she began to whimper.

The last thing Scarlett wanted to do was go back to her own huge, house but she had to be alone. If she went back with Pitty then the house would be crowded and she wouldn't get a moment peace. "No, Auntie I can't, I have to go home and wait for Rhett to come back from Charleston. And to look after Wade. He loved Melanie so."

"We all loved Her!" Pitty wailed and walked away from Scarlett, to go and cry on Dolly Merriwhether's shoulder.

Scarlett left then, she didn't want to go back to Ashley's, where India would sit and stare at her and the other old cats would sit in the corner and look at her and then whisper about her. No, she wanted to go back to her house, whether it be empty or not.

Wade was happy to see her. Wade who had always loved his mother but had never been able to show it because she was so terrified of her harsh temper. But when she had married Uncle Rhett, she seemed to calm down and be content with life. Sometimes she would visit him of an afternoon and they would sit together and talk about his day. But she was just as impatient as a child, and she would soon get irritable and leave.

"Wade, honey, shouldn't you be learning or something?" She asked him wearily. She threw her damp hat and coat on the floor, and forced her legs to move into the drawing room, where she fell into the seat.

Wade followed her. " I wish that you would have let me go to Aunt Melly's funeral. I wanted to go."

" A funeral is no place for a child-"

"Beau went."

" It was Beau's mother. Of course he went."

" Did Uncle Rhett go?"

" Yes, but only for a while. I think that he will be in Charleston by now, or at least on the way."

The train shot through Georgia, despite the heavy rain, and Rhett couldn't wait to welcome the homely smell of Charleston. He smiled at Belle, who had reluctant accepted his invitation to accompany him, and he knew that she was nervous. She sat in the corner of the seat, pale and wide- eyed.

She was terrified to go home. Her Pa would be there, and he hadn't seen her since Rhett had taken her away to New Orleans. She knew that he would hate her; he would throw the Bible at her and turn her away from his house. But she was excited to spend so much time with Rhett. When he had asked her to go with him, she had nearly screamed with excitement!

They had left the funeral and she had hated it when Rhett had spoken to Scarlett, but when he had walked off laughing she had felt relieved. They had left together and as they turned the corner, he had stopped and said: " Will you come with me to Charleston, Belle?"

She couldn't have said yes faster and she had packed quicker than any woman ever had. They got the last train, only because of Rhett's bargaining with the conductor, and now she sat nervous and excited all in one. She was excited to spend so much time with Rhett, maybe this time alone would make him realise that he did love her and that Scarlett was just a trollop who didn't love him and just wanted what she couldn't have.

Belle hated Scarlett. Not only because of Rhett but because of her selfishness, her coldness. She had never understood why such a beautiful and kind woman like Melanie Wilkes had been so loyal to Scarlett, especially when it was common knowledge that she was after Ashley Wilkes, and had been since before the war. Melanie must have known and yet, she had always stuck by her, never allowed anybody to say anything harsh against her. Belle had always kept her tongue shut, incase Melanie found out that Belle had been bad-mouthing the woman all over town, but now she could vent her hatred for her freely, even if it did pang her conscience slightly.

" We will stay in the grandest hotel, Belle," Rhett smiled at her. "After this, you will never want to go back to Atlanta!"

"Oh, I will Rhett, 'Lanta it my home," she replied. "Rhett? Do you still love Scarlett?"

Rhett sighed and looked back out of the window. He didn't reply or even look at her. He reached into his inside pocket and pulled out a cigar, he lit it slowly and drew in deeply. "Love is a complicated thing, Belle. Yes, I do love her, but will I ever go back to her? I doubt it, I don't think we are compatible. I thought we might have been, if she had given us a chance but she never did."

"Then why am I here, Rhett?"

"Because we are friends, Belle. Well, more than friends. You are like the dearest sister to me and as siblings, I feel that we should travel together."

Belle could have cried. She could have screamed and tore at him. She would rather he said that he hated her, at least that was more passionate than being loved like a sister. Now she knew that he would never love her the way that she wanted and she wished that she could throw herself off of the train. She was better of dead then watching him love someone he was too good for.


	5. Alterations

Charleston was completely altered to the place that Belle had remembered. As a girl, she had run through the continuous rice fields until she reached the river, where a stick and a string served as a good enough fishing rod. Free from the constraints of gentry, she was able to run in worn dresses with bare feet and laugh and play with the slaves' children. Back then, the streets had been lined with shops, saloons and hotels, carriages passed each other all day long and people walked up and down for hours, going in an out of the welcoming shops and leaving with huge boxes filled with all the beautiful gowns and hats that Belle had longed for. Now, she realized how lucky she had been to allowed to have a real childhood.

Now as they left the train station, Belle gasped as her eyes traced the ruins of a beautiful city. The streets were desolate, the gentle wind gathered up dry, untouched dirt. The buildings, once bright and cheerful, were mostly all burnt to the foundations, there singed remained dusty and deprived. Those that had miraculously survived the fire were worn, their roof's missing tiles, the windows blown in, the walls a musky dull brown colour, coated in dirt. They were empty, the roads empty and Belle felt as if she might cry. The sky turned grey, which shocked Belle; from what she could remember the sun had always been bright and gay, the sky a shining blue. "Oh, Rhett," she cried, "What happened?"

"The Yankee's. The war."

" Oh. It used to be so beautiful!"

"Did it? I remember it being black and cruel. The Charleston that you remember was just a mask; the Charleston I remember was what was underneath. The people here are just the same. No one here is true, Belle, you must remember that. With the exception of my mother and the darkies. Those are the people you can trust and yet they suffer the most."

" I don't understand you, Rhett."

"No matter. Lets get a cab to Mother's, I don't think I could stand bumping into someone here." He hailed a cab and they jumped in eagerly.

Belle dared not to look out, incase the sight made her spirits drop even lower. She wanted to be excited, excited to see her Pa and Ma after so long. She missed her mother so. Anne Watling was a beautiful person, nearly as great as Melanie Wilkes, Belle thought, but not quite. Anne had a temper and as a child Belle used to try her best not to anger her, as she could be quite harsh. She was the only woman who could calm her father, Moses, down, with her soft voice and sometimes calm nature. Belle had always been Anne's favorite, because she was the only girl, but she didn't really want to talk to Belle now. She was hurt, Belle supposed, hurt that Belle had just left her vanished for years until she had written them two weeks before.

The cab came to a sudden stop and Rhett paid the man quietly before he opened the gate to his childhood home. He stopped at the path looked pitifully at the charred remains of the grand house. It had been three stories tall, painted blue, with white shutters and an English style door. Now its walls were half burnt, some still stood tall; others were burnt to the foundations. All blackened with thick, old soot. Although Rhett had hated this house as a child, it still stirred something in him to look at the shell of what was once such a beautiful place. "Mother never told me it was this bad," he told Belle, who remained speechless. "By what she said, I was hoping to come here today and have it built back up within a couple of weeks. Now I see it has to be completely knocked down and re- built again."

He led her up the path and left at where the front door would have been. They carried on along a thinner path and bended around the house to the grounds. The grounds were churned up, the trees dead, the flower- beds trampled. The path ceased and they were forced to walk along the ground, Belle would usually worry about the hem of her dress but she in a daze of disbelief, so the thought never entered her head. Past a mass of dead tree's, in the middle of an empty lawn, was the small cabin type house that the remaining Butler's lived in. The roof was slanted; the chimney was crooked and some of the windows patched up with wood. Belle saw Rhett shake his head and she felt her heart break for him.

"My mother shouldn't live like this," he spat. "Not Mrs. Butler, who has only ever been used to the finer, softer life that God granted her."

He banged on the door loudly, and pulled his face into a sweet smile. They waited. They heard the echo of voices and the door finally creaked open.

Scarlett had no friends in the world now. She sat alone with a decanter of brandy in one hand and glass in the other, only to find herself drinking it straight from the decanter. The heavy curtains were drawn almost completely, only letting a slither of light through. It cut across the left eye and she had to bend out of the way of it. Her world consisted of nothing now; it was just an empty abyss that she fell deeper and deeper into. She had tried to claw the way out before she realized, 'What was she clawing her way out for?'

Mrs. Butler was a small woman, neat and frail. She scurried along the bare floorboards like a timid mouse, trying to do her best to show that her spirits were not dampened. She was pleased that her son had come home. Despite being forced to live in slave quarters, she still carried herself with the majestic elegance that she always had. She wore dark, worn clothes, but she sat as if they were silk. Her hair, once blonde and shining was now grey, but twisted and turned back almost as fashionably as Belle's.

She had tried to wait on them but Rhett had literally pushed her onto the nearest seat and warned her not to get back up. He pottered about, found the brandy and gave out three generous helpings.

" I will go down to the contractors in a moment. And buy all the lumber that I possibly can. The Butler home shall be as splendid as it had been," he promised his mother.

" What do I want a big house for, Rhett? Your sister has married; your brother is in the North. I live here almost alone, except for the darkies. I don't need such a big house."

" I wont have you living like this. Look, we shall find a compromise. I will knock down the house and build a smaller one, one that suits you more."

Mrs. Butler nodded. "Where is Scarlett, Rhett?"

"At home, with her children," he answered bluntly.

"Well hasn't she a Mammy who could look after her children?"

"No. Besides, Scarlett is in mourning for her sister-in-law-"

"Melanie Wilkes has died?" Mrs. Butler wailed. "And you didn't stay for the funeral, Rhett?"

"Yes I did, Mother. I got on the train straight away to here."

" Oh. It's a shame that you couldn't bring Scarlett," and she added quickly, " Not that I don't enjoy your company, Belle, dear. You have been such a good friend to my darling son. Are you here to see your poor mother?"

"I sure am, Mrs. Butler. Can I ask though, what do you mean poor mother?"

" Oh, dear she is so distressed. What with their modest house being burned and all her money gone and with your Pa dieing all so sudden-"

Belle screamed a little. "Pa dead?"

" Dear, you didn't know? Oh I am sorry, I thought she would have written you-"

" My Ma doesn't write me. She cant really, she relied on Pa to do that. But I would have thought that she would have told me, I cant believe-"

"Rhett, don't let her faint!"

But Belle fell to the ground. As pale as a sheet.


	6. A Plot

"Lift her gently, Rhett," Mrs Butler ordered gently as she swept across the room and pulled out the smelling salts she kept behind the bookcase. "Let me get to her head."

Rhett put his large hand behind her neck and tilted her head slowly. He held Belle as Mrs Butler placed the smelling salts below her nose, and she coughed and splattered back to reality. "Belle," he said gently. "Can you sit up?"

Belle didn't move. She could quite easily of sat up but she wanted to stay here, with his concerned face over hers and his arms holding her for a minute more. She wished that this was real, that he did love her, that he was concerned for her but she knew that he only felt friendship. It was like one bitter blow after another as the news swept over her again and again- he loved Scarlett, he loved his wife.

Belle nodded and used her arms to sit herself up. "I'm alright, Rhett, don't fuss. Was just a shock, is all," she pushed him away with her left hand. "I didn't even know Pa was ill."

Mrs Butler smoothed Belle's blonde hair gently. "Your Ma told me she'd written. I thought it strange when you didn't turn up for the funeral, you always set such a store by your Pa, since you were a little girl."

Belle nodded. She didn't want to think about it. It was her Pa who had sent her away when her boy had been born; it was her Pa that had banished her, cut her off from her family and left her to rot. Still, she loved him, even if it made her a fool, he was her Pa- he had been the one who taught her how to read and write, who had chased her through the rice paddocks and had held her hand at her brother's funeral. He had been such a kind man, a perfect father, even if he had turned his back on her, after all, he only did what any other father in the south would have done.

"Belle," Rhett said softly, "I wouldn't have done it," he said. She searched his dark eyes- it was as if he were reading her mind. "If my Bonnie Blue had done the same as you and still turned out to be a fine woman, I never would have acted as he did."

He held out his hand and she took it to pull herself up. It was smooth and soft and she didn't want to let go.

After a visit to a tearful Mrs Watling, Belle and Rhett fell into the hotel room. They could hardly keep their eyes open; Belle's were swollen from crying whilst Rhett was just tired. He was tired of lying- nobody had like Mr Watling, he held no respect for the man but he had just sat for three hours, telling his wife what a saint he had been. Everybody lied around here and he was getting sick of it.

"A drink, dear Belle?" He asked.

Belle shook her head. "No, no, my head is thick enough as it is."

Rhett nodded, poured himself a generous glass of brandy and surveyed the room that was costing him a small fortune. It was a wide square room, the ceiling gilded in gold, the walls covered with thick plum damask wallpaper and a huge chandelier hung from the centre. It was a nice room, a rich room and it wasn't enough. If Scarlett were here she would find something to moan about before Rhett chuckled and pulled her into the bedroom. He remembered the time in New Orleans when they had stayed up all night talking about the old days, laughing and joking- why they had even had a pillow fight. Where was his Scarlett now? Probably in the arms of that insufferable Ashley. She was probably waiting for the divorce papers to land through the door and she would sign her marriage away- she had no fear of being poor, Ashley had the mills, besides, she would have a settlement fee from Rhett- no he wouldn't be rid of her without loosing a bit of money.

"What are you going to do about Scarlett, Rhett?"

Rhett shrugged. "I'll need a divorce. But she won't divorce me if I give her no reason, She'll still think that she can win me back, I need a good excuse, but I just can't seem to find it."

Belle beamed. "That's where I can be of use," she said. "Tell her your going to marry me."

Rhett grinned.


	7. A Friend

A pretty gown and a frilly bonnet were enough to get Rhett back, she was sure. Rhett hated despair, hated rags, hated dirt- if she dressed in a pretty, bright dress with sparkling jewels and used plenty of rouge to cover her pale skin, she was sure to get him back. He was just annoyed with her, he was just teaching her lesson, she was sure. Rhett was never serious about anything, he just wanted to scare her.

She hadn't heard from him in a month, since he left for Charleston with that woman. She had written to him a dozen times, only for her letters to be ignored. At first she pleaded with him to come home and when that didn't work she wrote him telling him about her day, where she had bee, whom she had conversed with. It was strange that that hadn't worked either, for every plan Scarlett had usually came into place. She was used to simply calling and him being there and he hadn't even replied. It did bother her, it did make her wonder whether Rhett would come at all but she never thought about it too much- he was coming home and all she had to do was wait for him.

She hadn't been home to Tara, lest she missed his visit, for she was sure that if he came to Atlanta he wouldn't travel to Tara if he didn't find her there. He would simply come and leave, leaving no trace and she would probably never know that he had been; so she stayed in the mansion in Atlanta, even if her and her children only used four rooms of it.

It was on a cold, October day that Wade came running into her office, his face flush. It was a round face, most people said like Charles' but Scarlett could hardly remember him. All Scarlett saw in Wade was her own square chin and the mouth of Ellen. "Mother! Mother, you have a visitor!" He cried excitedly. "It's Uncle Rhett!"

Scarlett smiled triumphantly. He's coming back to me, she thought. She'd done it, she wasn't quite sure how, but she's done it. He was home- well that didn't last too long and she quite relieved. She rose with her head held high, lifted her green skirts so that she shouldn't trip over them and followed Wade, who practically ran into the parlour, where Rhett was sat with a beaming Ella on his knee. Scarlett stood in the doorway, her face passive and waited for Rhett to speak. He hardly moved his head, except when Wade asked him to look at his new toy sword he had acquired but he completely ignored Scarlett, who didn't move from the doorway.

"Children, run along upstairs will you, while I talk to Uncle Rhett?" She said, keeping her green eyes on Rhett.

Silently the two children ran from the room- they could always tell when there was going to be an argument and they quickly ran from the firing line, leaving Scarlett starring at Rhett and Rhett gazing at the floor. "Well, Rhett, are you going to speak?" Scarlett said icily.

"I was waiting for you, Scarlett, you usually have a lot to say."

"Oh, Rhett, I've been waiting for you, even just a reply to my letters but I'm so glad your home," Scarlett cried.

"Save your breathe, wife," Rhett said darkly. "I've not come home. I've come to explain."

"Explain why you left me?"

"Yes, that," Rhett said slowly. "And to explain why I'm divorcing you."

Scarlett laughed. "You'll never divorce me, you can't... can you?"

Rhett laughed. "You still think that nobody would dare divorce Scarlett O'Hara! That I'm lucky to have you, well, my dear, your not the belle of the ball anymore and I've come to tell you that I'm divorcing you. You can have the house, and whatever money you might want, the only think I ask is that my visits with the children continue. They might not be mine but I do love them," he said.

Scarlett couldn't speak. He was being serious, she could tell for their was no mocking in his eyes. He looked at her straight on and she knew that he was going to divorce her. She couldn't breathe. A divorce! Oh the shame of it- Ellen wouldn't have been able to look at her if she was alive and Mammy! A divorce, Oh God... it was so final. Rhett was going to leave her, forever. She would only see him around the children, she wouldn't be alone with him again- he didn't believe that she loved him!

"Oh, Rhett, why can't we make it work, I love you so!"

"My dear, there is nothing left. Bonnie took it all and now your conscience has died who knows when you may fall into temptation?"

"If this is about Ashley, I feel nothing for him, it's you I love Rhett, not Ashley Wilkes!"

"You said you loved him for thirteen years, pray, where has that love suddenly disappeared to? It matters not, anyway, whether you love him or me, for I don't love you. I'm going to marry again."

Scarlett choked. Her throat seized and she couldn't make her chest move to breathe. She leaned against the doorframe as her heart beat faster and her stomach churned. Oh my God, I'm going to be sick, she thought, and in front of Rhett! The thought of that made her throat open and she engulfed all of the air that she could. "You can't be serious?" Her green eyes flashed with fear as Rhett's mouth twisted into a smile.

"Oh, Scarlett, your not scared because your losing me, your scared because you don't want a divorce, you don't want the shame, what will old Mrs Merriwether think?" He said with a hint of laughter in his voice.

"You've got it all wrong!" She wailed. "I just want you, you can't get married again not when I love you-"

Rhett raised his head. "Scarlett, please, leave yourself with some pride when I walk out of here. You'll regret it if you don't."

Suddenly, Scarlett wanted to scream. He was mocking her as her heart was breaking! He was going to leave her and her children and marry somebody else! He couldn't do that to her, he just couldn't, she wasn't going to let him. "Rhett, I'm not going to let you go, I won't sign those damn papers!"

He laughed. "There she is! The cat is out! Oh, my pet, you might not sign those papers but it matters little- I'm the husband remember? I know it's easy to forget, after all, sometimes it seems that you are master but to the eyes of the world, I am the male party. If I sign you have no choice."

"And whose going to marry you after how you have treated me?" Scarlett asked haughtily.

The chuckle that came from Rhett made Scarlett's blonde run cold. He stood slowly, still with the thin smile on his face and put his grey hat on his head. He stood near Scarlett, so near that she could smell him and she wanted to faint into his arms. But he didn't come near her, he simply patted her shoulder and said: "I'm going to marry an old friend." Then he left, leaving her alone again.

His words whirled through her mind, over and over. Divorce, marriage, friends- he had finally left her. She wasn't going to be able to win him back, he was never coming back to her, he was going to go home to marry someone else- and she would be a divorced woman.

"I's heard every word Miss Scarlett," Mammy said out of no where. Scarlett jumped as Mammy waddled in. "Ah always hear every word and I's tellin you dat he lost his mine. It's a shame ter be a divorced woman, Miss Ellen, she be turning in her grabe-"

"Mammy I know that! But what choice do I have? He doesn't want me."

"You'll jest have to find a new husband," Mammy said simply. "If Cap'ain Butler is goin' to marry dat Belle den you is going to have to find a new husband."

"What did you say? He's going to marry Belle?"

Mammy looked confused. "He say he going to marry a friend, ah only knows Rhett to have one friend and dat be Belle Watling."

Scarlett fainted.


End file.
